OSCE Project Co-ordinator releases new publications on international mine action standards, calls for more risk education efforts to improve safety of Ukrainians
On the eve of the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, observed throughout the world on 4 April, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator released two new publications designed to help Ukrainian authorities better protect civilians from explosive remnants of past military conflicts, as well as from current challenges posed by conflict in the eastern regions of the country.
The publications, developed in co-operation with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, and with financial assistance from the Government of Norway, provide an overview of international standards on the establishment of national mine action programmes, as well as for risk education activities to improve the protection of civilians. The presentation of brochures took place on Friday, 3 April 2015 at the headquarters of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service in Kyiv.
According to the Service, in 2014, Ukrainian civilian deminers discovered and disposed of more than 151,000 explosive items throughout the country, including over 33,500 munitions in conflict-affected Donbas areas. According to recent UNICEF findings, since March last year at least 42 children died and 109 were injured in accidents involving landmines and unexploded ordnance in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a dramatic increase from previous years.
‘This situation clearly demands more action to alert civilians, especially children, of the threat from unexploded munitions. We have information materials at hand which include public service announcements that can enhance information campaigns on safety rules in this respect. I call on authorities, media and civil society to step up efforts, make use of our materials or channel their creativity into developing their own risk education messages, all for the safety of ordinary Ukrainians’, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Ambassador Vaidotas Verba said.
In autumn last year, the Project Co-ordinator released for the country’s broadcasters two public service announcements on safety rules, one targeting general audiences and one specifically addressing children. During the winter, 50,000 notebooks with safety messages on covers were printed and delivered to schools of Eastern Ukraine, as well as to communities of people displaced by the conflict in other regions.